Inspiration NETS-T 2

Using Inspiration 9, a digital learning software that inspires students to develop and organize their ideas, I created a visual web connecting ISTE NETs to artifacts I have created throughout the semester. 

Journal 9 "Teaching Green"

Waters, J. (2011). Teaching green. THE Journal , Retrieved from http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/1105/journal_201104/#/12

John J. Water, a freelance writer based in Silicon Valley, informs his readers about teaching green through the wealth of online resource presently available. Water gives a handful of examples and briefly describes each.

The first, Classroom Earth (classroomearth.org), is a site that was created by the National Education Foundation in partnership with The Weather Channel. This sites’ objective is to strengthen environmental awareness and education in high school classrooms across the nation.

The next site, A Walk in the Woods (urbanext.illinois.edu/woods) is aimed at students in grades 3 through 5 who live in an urban setting and rarely have the ability explore nature. This site takes student on a virtual walk in the woods.

EEK!-Environmental Education for Kids (dnr.wi.gov/eek) is an electronic magazine for kid that covers a ranges of topics that is aimed at students in grades 4 to 8. This particular websites also has great feature directed at teachers.

The Ecological Footprint Quiz (myfootpring.org), created by the Santa Fe, NM-based Center for Sustainable Economy, is an online quiz that gets kids thinking about their ecological footprint.

Then there is, “one of the oldest environmental science-themed educational games”, PowerUp (powerupthegame.org). This website provide not only the teachers’ guide and lesson plans, but parents’ as well.

Lastly, Waters, talks about The US Environmental Protection Agency Teaching Center (epa.gov/teachers) site. This is a teacher-forcused site that offers an abundance of lesson plans and classroom activities centered on environmental topics.

Do you see yourself using any of the sites Waters spoke of in his article?

Yes. I was very interested in the several of them. I would love to have my students take The Ecological Footprint Quiz. I think it would be a great way for students to see how they personally impact the Earth.

At what age were you exposed to the idea of environmental issues? Was it in school or something you learned at home?

I was exposed to environmental issue early one in elementary school. It was also a topic talked about, in detail, in my household. 

Journal 8: "Should Schools Be Held Responsible for Cyberbullying?"

Bogacz, R, & Gordillo, M. (2011, March/April). Point/counterpoint: Should Schools be Held Responsible for Cyberbullying?. Learning & Leading , 38(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Point_Counterpoint_Should_Schools_Be_Held_Responsible_for_Cyberbullying.aspx 

On one side there is Renee Bogacz who argues that it is the schools that play a big role in the prevention of cyberbullying. Bogacz, who has been teaching for 20 years and presents on cyberbullying for her district, says all educators as well as parents and the students themselves must work together in order to effectively deal with cyberbullying. Bogacz believes if everyone takes an active “role in the combating cyberbullying, then we will have the benefit of seeing it diminish and move toward a culture of tolerance and respect among children and teens”. 

On the other side we have is Miguel Gómez Gordillo, an IT director for the Ascoiaión para el Desarollo Educativo (which manages K-12 schools in Guatemala), who argues that schools cannot be held responsible for cyberbullying. Gómez places the blame on the parent and society as a whole. He attributes the high number of bullying cases to the weakening of families and lack of parental love. Gómez solution is to establish close communication with the parent(s) and to develop an educational plan for each student and their family.  Gómez believes “a healthy family is the basis for a healthy society, and schools can only support that role”.

In your opinion should schools be held responsible for cyberbullying?

Like Bogacz, I think it is up to teachers and administrators as well as the parents and student to effectively combated cyberbullying. Blame cannot be solely placed on schools just as it cannot be solely on the parents. I believe that every person who invests in the lives of students most work together to rid our society cyberbullying.

Do you have any personal experience with cyberbullying? If so, please explain.

Fortunately, I have never been affected by cyberbullying

NETs For Students Presentation NETs 3

NETs FOR STUDENTS 2007 PROFILES PK-2 GRADE on Prezi

Using Prezi, an web-based presentation application and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional slides, I crested a short presentation on the NETs for students to demonstrate my fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.

Assessment of Presentation NETs 3

Using Google Docs, a free web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form and date storage service offered by Google that allows easy collaboration, I created a form to have viewers assess my Prezi NETs for Students presentation. The ability to use Google Docs demonstrates collaboration with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support students success and innovation.

Journal 7: Personal Learning Network NETs 5

My personal learning network (PLN) is mostly comprised of teachers, parents, “power players” and peers who are connected to the special education and “at risk” student world in one-way or another. I choose to follow, tag, and chat with people who are involved and interested in these two areas, because I am hoping to teach special education at the elementary school level in a low-income community. For example I chose to follow Bill and Melinda Gates because they value education. I am also following KIPP, Teach forAmerica, Citizen Teachers,  and Edblogs because they have a wealth of information on working with at-risk in low income communities. Lastly, I chose to  follow Anne Truger, a mother of a special needs child as well as educator. The majority of my PLN was discovered in Twitter chats and Diigo tags centered on the topic of special education and low-income students. In the short couple of weeks that I have been developing my PNL have been exposed to an abundance of great website, articles, resources and materials that I plan on using throughout the credentialing program at California State University San Macros and in my classroom as a future educator.

             On Tuesday March 22^nd at 5:30pm I participated in a #spedchat discussion. Due to March Madness there was no official topic for the night. One member, who is a mother of a special needs students, posted a link to the Edceptional Learning For All website (I found this link to be extremely informative and interesting. I later tagged this website using Diigo has part of my PNL). She had us listen to a podcast about the use of IPads in the classroom. The discussion took off from there as I watched in amazement.

            Developing my PLN using Diigo as a networking tool proved to be harder than I thought. However, once I was able to wrap my head around the idea of using Diigo as a networking tool it was a breeze. I tagged KIPP and Teach For America with “PLN” because these website provide information about working with students in low-income areas, as well as future employment.  I also tagged Edceptional Learning For All “PLN” due to the many interesting articled, podcast and blogs related to the use of technology in special education. In terms of networking myself, I am constantly tagging site a\ I find online that I feel are not only beneficial to me, but the people who I have tagged and share the same interests with. 

            Of the two digital discussion forums that were presented in class I joined the Educators PLN forum. To be honest I was more visually drawn to this forum over the other. Because of this I took more time to explore the Educators PLN forum and found great and relevant information. Oddly enough, one of the blog posts listed under “Top Content” was about the pros and cons of Diigo. Since I do not have any experience with delicious it was hard to understand what they were talking about. However, I did find some useful information about the many uses of Diigo in the many replies to this particular post. I even was a post that mentioned EDU 422.
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In order to do so I have created a Personal Learning Network (PLN), a collection of people with whom you can engage and exchange information using digitals tools and resources such as Twitter and Diigo.With Twitter and Diggo I search for users and sites that are interested in similar topics as myself and add them to my PLN. My searches include terms like special education, international education, at-risk students, technology etc. Continually, I able model lifelong learning in order to expand my knowledge when I participating in local and global community discussion with the uses of these digital tools and resources. Expanding my network will allow me to explore the newest and best creative application of technology to improve my future students learning.

Journal 6 "Grow Your Personal Learning Network"

Warlick, D. (2009). Grow your personal learning network. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36(March/April 2009), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading.aspx

Summary: In the article “Grow Your Personal Learning Network”, David Warlick informs the reader about the resources involved in developing a personal learning network (PLN). Warlick suggests there are three main types of PLNs, each with its own “avenues of cultivation”:(1) Personally maintained synchronous connection which utilizes tools such as chat through iChat, Skype and uStream. This type of PLN also uses tools such as text and instant messaging, Twitter and Second Life in order to knock down the many barriers (geography, language, culture, etc.) that prevent us from connecting world of people out there. (2) Personally and socially maintained semisynchronous connections which is used to have untraditional conversations. A person might ask questions directed toward a single person, but instead the questions can be opened up to a community of people who are in a position to help answer the questions. (3) Dynamically maintained asynchronous connections which connects more with content sources rather than one another. The central tool being use is RSS aggregator in this type of PLN. Warlick goes into further detail identifying a RSS aggregator as throughout the rest of the article. Warlick goes on to identify a potential weakness of PLNs. That is, PLNs can easily become limited in the range of perspective due to personal bias. He states, “We must try to cultivate networks that challenge our thinking and frames of reference” in order to learn. Lastly, Warlick provides 10 examples to keeping the PLN simple.

(1)How do you “switch off” you PLN as suggested in the “Keep It Simple” partition of Warlick article?

I have struggle “switching off” learning when it comes to any form of learning in my life. Since, I am aware of this problem I will purposefully leave my chargers at home when going to the local coffee shop to work on projects. This way when the battery runs out, so does my time. Usually, I will hit the gym or go for a long walk while I let my computer recharge. I found this to be an excellent way to “switch off” my PLN. During holidays I make sure to keep the computer, text messaging and so on to a bare minimum. Sometimes I will turn everything off for 24hours (coursing sending out a message before hand).

(2) About how much time do you devote each day to your PLN?

            It varies from day to day. It all depends on my work schedule and my homework load. On average, I would say about 10 to 20 minutes. Some days I could devote a couple of hours if I am trying to find resources for am upcoming protect.